People

Michele Bartoli Cain is a trial lawyer who has spent more than 25 years representing clients seriously injured by medical and dental negligence. She has obtained substantial recoveries for individuals and families affected by the negligence of physicians and dentists across Virginia, D.C., and Maryland.

Michele specializes in dental malpractice, including death occurring as a result of dental error, disabling injuries to the inferior alveolar nerve and lingual nerve, failures to diagnose oral cancer resulting in death, and catastrophic failures of restorative dental treatments. Her medical malpractice case successes cover a wide range of severe and permanent injuries, as well as wrongful death cases for families who have lost loved ones because of professional negligence.

Michele’s record speaks for itself. She has achieved numerous seven-figure settlements and verdicts, including:

• $1.9 million verdict for inferior alveolar nerve injury resultant from an extraction
• $1.4 million settlement for a physician’s failure to diagnose prostate cancer
• $1.5 million verdict for a root canal error resulting in an inferior alveolar nerve injury
• $1.4 million settlement for a disabling dental infection
• $1 million settlement for a serious inferior alveolar nerve injury from negligent implant placement
• $1.8 million settlement in a failure-to-diagnose oral cancer case
• $1 million settlement for a botched hysterectomy case
• $825,000 settlement of a lingual nerve injury
• $700,000.00 settlement during trial of an oral surgery extraction case
• Unanimous $625,000 jury verdict in a zero-offer oral surgery nerve injury malpractice case

Michele is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected for Best Lawyers recognition continuously since 2009, a track record that earned her a place in the Washingtonian Top Lawyers Hall of Fame. Washingtonian magazine has also repeatedly named her one of the Best Personal Injury Attorneys in the DMV. She has been designated a Virginia Go-To Lawyer for Medical Malpractice and recognized by Super Lawyers as a top-rated attorney in both Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury, as well as a Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer.

Michele launched her own firm in Old Town Alexandria in 2005 and joined Shulman Rogers in 2022 when the firm opened its Alexandria office. She serves clients throughout Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Beyond her legal practice, Michele is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and the Board of Governors of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C.

She has been inducted into the Etheridge Society, the preeminent medical malpractice honor society. A longtime resident of Alexandria, Michele is also a director of the Washington Concert Opera, where she has spent more than a decade working to introduce opera to young audiences.